The Invincible Spider-Man
Chapter 63: Original Sin
Cars whizzed past each other on the streets of Greenwich, Manhattan. Everyone was super busy in their own world, eyes glued to their phones as they bumped into each other on the sidewalk.
That's why you can't fault them for noticing a puddle of water seep out from a manhole cover.
The puddle moved around, almost as if it was conscious. It moved across the street and onto the footpath, where it skillfully evaded the stampede of people power walking to their destinations.
The puddle made its way to an alleyway, and started to rise higher and higher, until it twisted itself into the body of Morris Bench.
Morris walked out of the alleyway and found himself in front of ESU. Peeking through the gate, he noticed Mary Jane walking around the campus, holding a bunch of books in her hand.
Morris' face contorted into a long smile, as he chuckled to himself.
"Nothing can keep us apart now."
The funeral was quite a large one, as a large crowd of people dressed in black had gathered at the cemetery, where Jean was going to be buried.
"Captain DeWolff was…an inspiration to us all," started Yuri, tear streaks still visible on her cheeks. "She was dedicated, hardworking, and most of all…a good friend. She had made it her duty to keep this city safe, no matter the adversity. And in the end, she died keeping everyone in the precinct safe, saving all of our lives. Jean DeWolff was a great captain, a great friend, and most importantly, a great human being," concluded Yuri, as she sniffled and stepped away from the podium.
The firing squad assembled, as Jean's casket was lowered.
Elsewhere, Spider-Man was sitting on a rooftop, his left fist clenched and a police scanner in his right.
He exhaled deeply, as his suit seemed to be slightly shifting across his skin, although it was barely noticeable.
"All units, we have a suspect matching the description of Dennis Carradine, Meatpacking District," said the police scanner.
Without even listening to the whole message, Spider-Man leaped from the edge of the roof, forwards by at least 15 feet, before he shot a web from his hands and swung with high momentum.
As soon as he reached the location, he saw a man wearing a ski mask running down the footpath. Peter was at least 200 feet away from the suspect, but he shot a web, latching onto the suspect's foot in a matter of seconds.
The man fell to the ground with a loud thud. Peter jumped towards him and pummeled his face into the concrete multiple times, before grabbing his arm and snapping it in his fist.
The man screamed as Peter tore the mask from the thug's face. However, it wasn't Carradine.
"Goddamnit!" he cursed, swinging away in anger.
"I swear, Jean. I swear to God I'm going to get that deluded son of a bitch," said Peter, gritting his teeth.
All of a sudden, his Spider-Sense went nuts, and before he knew it, a huge 7 foot robot lunged at him from a nearby roof.
"What the-?!" exclaimed Peter, as he got slammed through the living room of a building. Spider-Man got to his feet as the residents of the apartment fled from the door. Spider-Man stood up and saw the huge cyborg staring back at him.
"Just what I needed. Skynet military AI coming for my ass," lamented Peter.
The robot jumped towards him and slammed him into the wall, readying a fist to punch him. However, Spider-Man grabbed the fist and kicked the robot away. He then catapulted himself to the robot, and both of them fell off the building and onto the street.
Before Peter could even get up, the robot ripped off a car door and threw it at Peter, hitting him straight in the chest and sending him tumbling down further.
The robot grabbed another door, ready to throw it at him. He aimed and threw it at Spider-Man, who rushed towards it and dived straight through the car door's window.
He shot a web at the robot's face, blinding it temporarily. He then slid between the robot's legs and tripped it with a web.
As the robot fell, Spider-Man jumped onto its back, and noticed a faint logo on it.
"What is that?" he thought. Distracted by that, the robot grabbed Peter and lifted him over its head, throwing him into a lamppost.
Peter quickly flipped up, grabbing the lamppost and ripping it from the ground. He swung it around and hit the robot with it, sending it flying into a shop.
"If this is a sign of AI taking over, I gotta say I'm underwhelmed," chuckled Peter, as the robot started to get up.
Spider-Man jumped inside the store, grabbed the robot and threw it across the room, destroying a huge shelf of shoes.
"Are you crazy! You know how expensive that is?!" exclaimed a retail worker, cowering from the debris.
"Get your manager and we'll talk- WHOA!" exclaimed Peter in the middle of his sentence, as the robot grabbed him with its right hand and lifted him up. It then grew larger, as its feet turned into thrusters. The robot turned horizontally and flew out of the store.
The robot kept slamming his head into the ground, as Peter resisted as much as he could.
"You know…they said the Iron Giant was supposed to be friendly!" mocked Peter, as he headbutted the robot and broke free from his grasp.
Peter tumbled back onto the street but regained his footing. He started to survey his environment, and that's when he noticed what he needed.
The robot started to charge at him, but Peter flipped over him, shooting multiple strands of webbing from his wrists around the robot's neck, pulling him down to the ground.
Before the robot could fall, Peter jumped onto its back. Using the webbing, Peter started to steer the robot towards his end goal.
Towards a gas station.
"You know, they say the best fights always have explosive endings! No they don't, it's something I say!" laughed Peter, as he kicked himself off of the robot, who went careening into the gas station.
Peter landed on his feet, and after a few seconds, a huge explosion rocked the place, sending Peter flying meters away and lighting his suit on fire.
"AAAGHH! AGHHHH! WHAT THE HELL?!" exclaimed Peter in agony, as he started to pat away the flames, which seemed to uncharacteristically hurt a lot more with the Black Suit.
Peter stared at the explosion, which looked as if a nuke went off. He carefully approached the flaming robot, and saw a fading logo on it.
"Property of Oscorp Industries…" he read out.
Just then, the wailing sound of a firetruck could be heard. But to Peter, the noise seemed to be amplified by a thousand decibels.
"AAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHH!" screamed Peter at the top of his lungs. He quickly started to swing away, accidentally bumping into buildings on the way.
He landed in Central Park, stumbling a bit as the pain started to fade away. It was more like a wave, crashing down hard but then slowly going away.
"Feels like my head got nuked…what was that about?" asked Peter to himself, when his previous thought came back to him.
"That robot was made by Oscorp. There's only one person I know who could build something so sophisticated, and who has motive for it. Alistair Smythe," said Spider-Man, clenching his fists.
"I'm going to get to him tomorrow. I'm way too tired right now," yawned Peter, as he got ready to shoot a web.
All of a sudden, he felt something tug at his arm. Peter turned around and saw a little boy standing by him.
"I can't find my mom," said the boy. Peter
"Alright, let's help you find your mother," said Peter, as he held the boy's hand and started walking down the path.
"God I'm so tired, I just need sleep…" thought Peter.
"Think about this. If you go to sleep now, then you'll be more active tomorrow, and you'll be able to save more people," thought Peter, as he looked at the child.
"Maybe I could ask the authorities to help find this kid's parents. I need to sleep so badly," he continued thinking.
"Alright kiddo. As you know, Spider-Man has to go save more people. So I'm going to ask someone to help you find your mother, okay?" said Spider-Man.
"But you can definitely find her! You can swing around, right?" asked the boy. Exhausted, Peter rushed up to a random civilian.
"Hey, can you help this boy find his mother?" asked Spider-Man.
"Okay…I guess? Isn't that what you do?" asked the civilian, a little confused.
"Look man, I've got more important things to deal with, such as sleep deprivation," explained Spider-Man, as he swung away from Central Park and back towards ESU.
It was almost 9 o clock at night, as Peter slowly approached his window, trying not to make a single sound.
"That's enough! I'm tired of this!" shouted someone.
"Eh, if she has any sense, she'd be calling the cops, not my problem anymore," said Peter to himself, almost as an excuse to suppress his guilt. He stealthily opened his window and entered, as his suit crawled back into his watch.
"Morris, that's enough!" shouted the woman again.
"Morris?!" exclaimed Peter, as he instinctively jumped out of the window. While in free fall, the Black Suit jumped out of the watch and instantly covered Peter's body.
He shot a web and swung off into an arc, barely an inch off of the ground. He swung right and found himself overlooking a footpath, where Morris Bench was walking behind Mary Jane.
"Not this guy again!" lamented Peter, as he jumped in front of Morris and MJ, startling the latter.
"I thought I told you to stay the Hell away," growled Spider-Man.
"And I thought I made it clear that I don't listen to bugs dressed in black!" replied Morris.
"We gave you a warning. You should've taken it," said Spider-Man, his voice getting much more raspy with the last sentence, as he prepared a fist,
"Spider-Man, wait!" protested MJ, but it was too late.
Peter connected his fist with Morris' face. But surprisingly enough, his hand went straight through his face, coming out wet with water.
"What the Hell?!" exclaimed Peter, as he punched Morris again on his chest, Once again, his fist went straight through him. Peter stared up at Morris, who was grinning.
"You ain't seen nothing yet, pal!" said Morris, as he collapsed into a puddle of water. Spider-Man quickly took a few steps back, while MJ stared in horror.
"W-Where did he go?!" asked MJ. Spider-Man started to scour his environment, when his Spider-Sense tingled. Out of nowhere, Morris rose up from the ground and uppercutted Spider-Man, sending him flying back.
"Try and stop me now, freak!"
"Kinda ironic that you're calling me a freak when you would stare through Mary Jane's window every night!" replied Peter, as he jumped towards Morris and kicked him, but instead he went straight through him, soaking wet.
Morris let out a stream of water from his hands, hitting Spider-Man and pushing him down the street.
Morris turned away and started walking towards MJ.
"See, Mary Jane! This is a sign! We're meant to be together!" said Morris.
MJ grabbed her purse and slammed it against Morris' face, who barely flinched.
"You'l warm up to me soon enough," he chuckled.
While Morris was distracted, Peter shot a web at a fire hydrant and swung it towards Morris, hitting him straight in the head. He screamed as he grabbed his head and turned towards Spider-Man, as he shot out many streams of water towards the black suited hero.
Spider-Man side flipped over one stream of water, corkscrewed over another, dove under one of them, jumped towards a car and dodged another, before flipping off of the car and dodged another stream.
He landed behind Morris and shot a web towards his back, which somehow stuck to him. He pulled him down, but Morris instantly turned into water and slipped through his web, before grabbing Spider-Man's leg and throwing him towards a wall.
As Spider-Man was flung through the wall, he regained himself in mid-air and pushed his feet towards the wall upon impact, causing him to bounce off of the wall and land back on his feet.
Spider-Man grabbed a car and threw it towards Morris, who split himself into two parts, causing the taxi to move right through him and crash into ESU's campus.
"Don't you see! I'm invincible!" he gloated, as he shot out a river's worth of water from his chest, attacking Spider-Man and flooding the entirety of the street. Morris grabbed MJ and boosted himself into the air with a jet of water.
Spider-Man shot a web to a building and grabbed onto it, pushing against the onslaught of water. He pulled himself up using his web, as the stream of water flowed away into the drains.
"Jesus Christ…" coughed Peter, sputtering water, as he swung back to where MJ and Morris were standing, only to be met with nothing.
Students had all clamored at ESU campus, watching the destruction caused by Spider-Man and Morris' fight.
"Hydro-Man attacks ESU! Kidnaps student!" said JJ Jameson to Eddie and Ned, as he explained the title of the article.
Just then, Peter walked into the office.
"Hey Peter," said Eddie, but Peter completely ignored him and walked to Jameson.
"Mr Jameson, I wasn't able to get pictures of the fight between Spider-Man and Morris-"
"Hydro-Man!" interrupted Jonah.
"Hydro-Man," finished Peter.
"That's quite alright. Eddie was just telling me an idea about his expose on Spider-Man anyways, so we can use any leftover pictures of yours," said Jameson, while Peter's jaw dropped.
"I'm sorry, what?" asked Peter, sharply moving his eyes towards Eddie and back to Jameson.
"I said, we can use the pictures you took that weren't printed," re-explained Jameson.
"No no, before that. An expose on Spider-Man?" asked Peter.
"Stop talking," said Ned to Jameson, pretending to cough.
"Oh yeah! Eddie had an amazing idea about running an expose on people's opinions on Spider-Man, and why he's been so ruthless lately. Call it "The People v Spider-Man,"" explained Jameson, not hearing Ned's warning.
Peter looked enraged, as he turned back to Eddie, a scowl etched on his face.
"That gives me an idea! Parker, you can take pictures of Black Suit Spider-Man being unethical, which is basically what Spider-Man does. You both are working together on this article!" said Jameson.
"Goddamnit," muttered Ned under his breath, as Peter stared at Eddie.
"We clear on this?" asked Jameson.
"Yeah…" said Eddie, his voice a little lower.
"Parker? Are we clear?" asked Jameson.
"Crystal," replied Peter, his stare unflinching as he walked out of the office.
A few hours later, Spider-Man stood on a building, constantly switching channels on the police scanner, trying to locate Hydro-Man.
"We have a "Disturbing The Peace" call, stand by for location-"
"Possible hold up at a store, Bowery and Grand-"
"Robbery at People's Bank of New York-"
He continued switching through them, getting frustrated each time.
"All units, a flare was spotted at Harlem, near the docks, followed by a mini-tidal wave," said one police officer.
"That's gotta be Hydro-Man," said Peter, shooting a web.
"But…how do I even attack him. My fists can't do anything with water…" thought Peter, but that's when an idea reached him.
"I might not be able to attack water, but something else definitely can," thought Peter, as he took a detour, towards Empire State University.
20 MINUTES EARLIER
MJ came to in a dark and damp place. There was a stream of sunlight coming in through a small window, and she was able to hear seagulls squawk. She was also able to smell rotting fish.
She slowly stood up, head throbbing, as she touched the wall of the room.
"Wood…and hay?" she asked herself. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she realized that she seemed to be in a wooden shack. She tried moving around, but found her left hand tied to a pole with a rope.
"Well, I couldn't risk you running away. Not when we're so close to a perfect life," said Morris, as he materialized from a puddle on a chair in the room.
"Morris, what are you doing?" asked Mary Jane, trying to hide her terror.
"Making sure your spider themed guardian angel doesn't come for you, and me," replied Morris.
"He's not my guardian angel," replied MJ.
"Well, not anymore now that I'm here," chuckled Morris. "They're calling me the "Hydro-Man." A little too dramatic for me. I'd rather take a name you give me," said Morris, gently holding her chin.
"How about "The Creeper?"" suggested MJ. Morris simply chuckled and pulled away.
"You'll see that we're made for each other. Eventually," he said, turning himself into a puddle and seeping away under the shack's door.
MJ sighed, as she looked around the place.
"No bother screaming…I don't even know where I am…" thought MJ. Just then, she heard the seagull squawking again, and the smell of rotten fish returned.
"A beach! Or, at least near the seashore…" she thought, as she continued looking around, and saw a box nearby. Peering more, she noticed there were rolls of bandages, a flashlight, and flares.
"Flares! Though would anyone see them in the daytime?" thought MJ. "And moreover, how the hell do I get out of this rope?"
That's when she had an idea. Stretching her tied up left hand, she started to rub the rope across the pole up and down repeatedly.
After what felt like hours, the friction caused the rope to tear, and MJ freed herself from her restraints. She quickly rushed over and grabbed her purse, then ran to the box and picked up the flares and the flare gun.
All of a sudden, she felt someone grab her shoulders. The person then threw her across the shack.
"I gave you a chance, Mary Jane!" said Hydro-Man, as MJ slowly got to her feet, her right hand fishing for something in her purse.
As soon as Hydro-Man grabbed her shoulder again, MJ took out a can of pepper spray and emptied it on Hydro-Man's face.
"YEEEAAAAARGHH!" yelled out Hydro-Man, grabbing his eyes as he stumbled back. Before he could regain himself, Mary Jane grabbed the chair and slammed it across Hydro-Man's face, who fell down,
She quickly ran out of the shack with the flare gun, and started to fire it in the air. However, when contrasted against the sunlight, it was barely visible. "You know you love me, Mary Jane! You always have, stop denying it!" shouted Hydro-Man, as he shot streams of water at MJ, which turned into huge hands and grabbed her.
He pulled her towards him, despite her struggling.
"You know we're meant to be together. That's exactly why I was given these powers! So you could be with me!" shouted Hydro-Man.
"You know…I think you're right…" said Mary Jane.
"W-what?" asked Hydro-Man.
"I think we are meant to be together, Morrie. After middle school…" continued MJ.
"You called me Morrie again," said Hydro-Man, as he closed his eyes and went in for a kiss.
Just then, MJ took out the flare gun and shot him straight in the face.
"AAAAGHHH!" he exclaimed, dropping MJ, who quickly scrambled to her feet and started to run. "He can only be invulnerable to something if he's aware of it, I guess?" she thought, as she frantically ran.
"THAT'S IT! IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU, NO ONE CAN!" shouted Hydro-Man, creating a small tidal wave.
MJ quickly took shelter behind a rock, holding her breath and curling up into a ball, as the wave came crashing down. She stuck herself to the rock, holding on so she doesn't get pushed away by the wave.
She was just barely able to hold on, as the wave finished.
Hydro-Man shot a concentrated jet of water towards the rock, splitting it into two, revealing a bruised MJ.
"I didn't want to do this, Mary Jane," said Hydro-Man, as he readied a blast of water, when all of a sudden, a web hit him in the face.
"You know, if you were trying to be discreet, you could try and not create a trademark tidal wave," suggested Spider-Man, as he landed behind Hydro-Man.
MJ quickly ran away as Hydro-Man turned around to face Peter.
"And you shouldn't have been dumb enough to fight me in a place surrounded by water!" replied Hydro-Man.
"I'm sorry, "surrounded?" Unless the definition they taught you in school meant only half of a place, you've got that wrong pal," replied Peter. Hydro-Man turned back into water and joined up with the sea.
All of the water from the sea materialized into an almost 30 foot tall Hydro-Man, who brought his fists down onto the beach.
Spider-Man quickly leaped out of the way, as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a few carefully packaged test tubes.
"Hey, Hydro-Man! Did you ever pass high school Chemistry?" asked Spider-Man.
"Chemistry's for losers!" yelled Hydro-Man, as he brought down another small tidal wave, which Spider-Man jumped over.
"Figured. Anyway, time for a pop quiz! Which elements on the Periodic Table react explosively with water?" asked Spider-Man, as he opened the 9 test tubes, all of which had one solid substance each, submerged under oil.
Spider-Man dodged under hit, as he threw two of the solid substances at Hydro-Man.
"Here's a hint. They rhyme with Bithium and Tubidium!" yelled Spider-Man. The substances hit Hydro-Man in his stomach, causing violent explosions.
"AAAGHHH!" yelled Hydro-Man.
"You know, the doctor said you needed more Sodium and Potassium in your diet! Well, here you go!" shouted Spider-Man, throwing the clumps of Sodium and Potassium to Hydro-Man, which also fizzed and exploded upon impact.
Hydro-Man screamed in agony, as he fell back down to the ground, screaming in pain.
"Aww don't give up yet! I've still got 5 more elements just exploding with anticipation to meet you!" said Peter, as he threw some Magnesium from a test tube, which completely burned through Hydro-Man's skin and exploded.
"AAAAGHHH STOPPP!" yelled Morris. His skin was healing, but who knew how much he could take.
"We're not finished with you yet!" growled Spider-Man, as he kicked Morris away and threw a lump of Calcium and Strontium onto him, both of which exploded upon impact, burning straight through Morris.
"We warned you to stay away! Now…you suffer…" rasped Peter, as he grabbed Hydro-Man and punched his fist straight through his chest. While it didn't kill Hydro-Man, it certainly sent him flying down the beach by about 20 feet, knocking him unconscious.
"Spider-Man! Enough!" shouted MJ, who had made her way down to the beach with the police. Spider-Man turned to her.
"After all this piece of garbage has done, you want to let him go? Let us finish him!" protested Spider-Man.
"No matter what he's done, you don't have to kill him," she said.
"Who are we to listen to her? We are justice!" shouted Spider-Man out loud, almost as if he was talking to himself. He turned back to Hydro-Man, ready to kill him, but MJ stepped in the way.
"You're not killing anyone. If you're Spider-Man, you won't do it," she said.
Peter hesitated, as he stared at MJ. Mary Jane stood her ground and stared back at Spider-Man, with a glare that would kill most people.
Spider-Man sighed as he backed away and swung off of the beach.
Mary Jane was being tended to by an ambulance near the beach, while the police took a way a severely wounded Morris Bench
"Mary Jane!" exclaimed Peter, as he ran towards her.
"Peter, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I heard on the news that a certain redhead had been kidnapped and been saved by Spider-Man. I just had to check up on you," explained Peter.
"That's sweet of you, Tiger. But I'm being honest, I'm pretty good. Not so sure about our friend SM though," sighed MJ.
"What happened to him?" asked Peter, pretending not to know the situation.
"He's different. More violent. More aggressive. More dangerous," she explained.
"Ah, not you too!" lamented Peter, to a perplexed MJ.
"Sorry, it's just that everyone at the Bugle thinks Spider-Man has turned into some monster," explained Peter.
"I'm not sure yet. But, I'm leaning more towards them…" she replied.
Before Peter could reply, he got a call from Yuri Watanabe.
"Hold on, I gotta take this," said Peter, as he walked away and picked up the phone.
"Detective?" asked Peter.
"This is Spider-Man right? Jean had given me this number in case I ever had to call you for any occasion. Guess this is one of them," said Yuri.
"What's the issue?" asked Peter.
"It's Carradine. He's been spotted near the Clinton Mission Shelter," replied Yuri.
"We're on our way," replied Peter, much more aggressively and in a raspier voice, as his eyes turned black for a millisecond.
And there you have it! By the way, I apologize for the huge delay in between chapters, I've been super busy irl, so chapters will certainly take longer to be done.
In other news, real life has been better. I had a sleepover at a friend's place, and I've made quite a few new friends, one of whom I'm planning to ask out (here's hoping this goes well.) I recently gave a math test that completely kicked my ass, so I've been feeling kinda down lately. Also, today's my dog's 8th birthday! Just finished celebrating! I've also been practicing guitar, so that's good.
Marvel Nerd: Indeed they have!
Fate-Be Changed: Yep, he's fully Hydro-Man now!
Gekk4Life: I'll be adding those next chapter! Though without the hair loss lol
SpideyXBC: I'm probably not gonna make Peter go bald this season, but you will definitely see a bald Peter Parker in a future season!
Teller-Story: He sure will! Stay tuned for the next chapter!
I am The Voice: Certainly! Sin-Eater's going down!
Guest: The imprints of the logos are a good idea, probably as a way of showcasing the bond strengthening between Peter and Venom. Though I probably won't make it tattoos lol
redbirds12: Thanks! I always liked when Eddie wasn't inherently a bad guy, and believe me, you still haven't seen Peter's reaction to Jean's death completely. Next episode he's gonna go on an all out war with the Sin-Eater!
Yours Truly,
Shadow Strike.